Being his gainful first motion picture professional employment, he joined Image G in 1996, "flying ships", as he has put it on his personal website. [1](X) His duties as effects camera operator entailed programming the computerized camera rig which was repeatable and scalable. During his tenure at Image G, his work has garnered Maples and his team earned three Emmy Award nominations for his work on Deep Space Nine.

A 1989 graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, with a degree in Commercial Photography, Maples first worked as such to commercial ends, before moving to Los Angeles, California with his wife Kimberly in 1996, where he landed his first job in the motion picture industry at Image G.

Apart from the Star Trek franchise, Maples has worked for Image G as motion control operator on productions like Mousehunt (1997), Stuart Little (1999), and Spy Kids (2001). In 1998, Maples was among the staffers that Image G was forced to let go, as the company was struggling to find new directions, due to the diminishing demand for traditional motion control photography in favor of the new technique of computer generated imagery, which was at the time making a rapid entry in the industry, not in the least in the Star Trek franchise, up until then, their main client.

Nevertheless, Maples managed to continue to work in his chosen profession, having worked on a multitude of productions, among others, Minority Report (2002), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), Catwoman (2004), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Apocalypto (2006), Fast & Furious (2009), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Iron Man 2 (2010), and The Avengers (2012), and all three Hobbit installments. For television he has worked on a variety of series, including the 2003 Battlestar Galactica mini (pilot) series, the X-Files, House, and the original three CSI series.

More recently, he operates motion control rigs and the Technodolly.

Paul Maples is an enthusiastic traveler and nature lover, having become increasingly environmentally aware. Recently, spurred on during his stay in New Zealand while working on The Hobbit, he has expressed a desire to become more active as an environmental conservationist, or as he has put it, "I have been working in the film industry for the last 18 years, but have been looking for a more important and rewarding occupation and a way to make a positive impact on the world." [2][www.meetup.com/The-Green-Spot/members/31992642 (X)]